Once the puffs of white smoke went up just after 6pm Irish time, it was suspense all the way. An ancient ritual of white smoke to announce a new pope captivated a world wide audience. When his name was called out in Latin it didn’t register with anyone even the commentators! Soon the bits and pieces came together and then we heard it was Pope Francis from Argentina!


Little bits of his background will warm him to many. He lives a simple life based on St.Francis. He lives in a small apartment, does not like fuss or pomp, travels on a bus where possible and connects strongly with those who are poor and struggling. No one can deny he has a really tough job but one I’m sure he will do really well. It was a lovely moment when he asked everyone to pray for him last evening and then when he blessed everyone after our prayers for him.

Thought on Thursday – March – 14/03/2013

‘The problem with waiting until tomorrow is that when it finally arrives, it is called today. Today is yesterday’s tomorrow. The question is what did we do with its opportunity? All too often we will waste tomorrow as we wasted yesterday and as we are wasting today.’ ~Jim Rohn


We are all guilty of waste and wasting opportunity. Sometimes it is easy to drift along in life and not really notice. We begin to take lots of things for granted and only take notice when some crisis or unexpected event happens. Today is the most important day we have. It is not going to be perfect and it most certainly will have its challenges. It is a day that may not make headlines despite our efforts. But it is not about headlines or trying to make it perfect. It is much more about using today as best we can. From a spiritual viewpoint, a moment that is not wasted and instead used by us to reflect God’s love is indeed a precious moment. There are more of these moments around than we actually realize. Can you be part of one of these moments today?